I’m sure everything this columnist says is true about things Labour could have done better in the Bradford West by-election…but I have to wonder, if it was Nick Griffin’s British National Party that had won the election instead of George Galloway’s Respect Party, would this article focus so much on how out of touch Labour is? Or would it focus on the outrageous extremism of the candidate that did win?

You remember the Monty Python sketch where Hitler runs for parliament for the “National Bocialist Party” under the name “Hilter” thinking that no one will notice the cosmetic changes to the names? This is how I feel about the current appeal of George Galloway and his politics.

Galloway openly claims that the fall of the Soviet Union was the worst day of his life. He has been videotaped handing bags full of cash to the leaders of Hamas, something about which he is also quite open. I don’t give a rat’s ass if he has some kind of a rapport with local voters in Bradford. He is not any kind of a model to follow, and this columnist should have taken greater care not to appear to argue this. There must be some way of getting across rational criticism of Labour that doesn’t seem like an endorsement for demagoguery.